This invention relates generally to processor-based systems and particularly to basic input/output systems.
A basic input/output system (BIOS) is a set of software routines that test hardware at start up, start the operating system and support the transfer of data among hardware devices. Conventionally, BIOS is stored in a read only memory (ROM) so that it can be executed when a processor-based system is turned on.
BIOS is conventionally monolithic, in that the files making up the BIOS are not separately accessible. The BIOS is generally loaded as a whole and executed as a whole. This simplifies the operation of the BIOS and may, in some cases, when relatively simple processor-based systems are involved, speed the execution of the BIOS and improve the speed at which a system boots up.
However, with the advent of increasingly more complex functions implemented by increasingly lower cost systems, the demands on BIOS have increased. The proliferation of a variety of different types of BIOS and a variety of processor-based systems from very simple systems to extremely complex multiprocessor systems, have increased the demands on the BIOS.
Thus, there is a need for a BIOS which is capable of implementing more elaborate capabilities.